ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS Reading Aloud Prepared by Bernard Kang PHSS 2009

ORAL EXAM Syllabus A Part 1 – Reading aloud – 12 marks Part 2 – Picture Discussion – 12 marks Part 3 – Conversation – 16 marks [10 min for preparation]

Reading Aloud - Objectives Fluency –This means smoothness in the flow of speech without stumbling over words or repeating words or missing out words Clarity –All words are received conveniently by the listener Expressiveness –Reflects understanding and interest on the part of the reader

How to ACE Paper3 To score a distinction (A1 or A2), candidates will need to score 28 marks out of 40 (A2), and 30 marks out of 40 (A1). Example: Reading – 9/12 Picture – 9/12 Conversation – 12/16 Total : 30 marks (A1)

Reading Aloud There are SEVEN main things oral candidates must look out for in reading passages: (COPY THIS DOWN) 1)Tenses 2)Plural Forms 3)End consonants 4)Punctuation (Passage) 5)Punctuation (Dialogue) 6)Contractions in grammar 7)‘ Th ’ sounds

1. Tenses Students tend to make the errors of not stressing the ‘ -ed ’ or ‘ -d ’ of a verb in its past tense. E.g. He decided not to go home, thus he joined his friends for a game of pool. Students are also careless with irregular verbs in their past tense. E.g. She chose not to attend classes as she had overslept. *When the verb is spelt the same way in the present and past tense, the candidate is expected to infer the tense form and pronounce the verb accurately. E.g. Read (Present tense), Read (Past tense). I like to read. I read a book last night. (In this context, the candidate has to be careful and pronounce the verb in its past tense form)

2) Plural nouns - this is a very common mistake made by candidates as they forget to stress the ‘ -s ’ or the ‘ -es ’ in the plural nouns found in the passage. E.g. They usually meet up with their friends once a week to chat about their lives. -Candidates should also be careful about irregular forms of plural nouns. E.g. Child -> Children, Man -> Men, Woman -> Women Fungus ->Fungi

3) End consonants The end consonants are the last consonant of each word. The common errors made by candidates who do not stress the end consonant of certain words usually end with ‘ k ’, ‘ t ’, ‘ d ’ or ‘ s ’. E.g. argues, felt, bank, died

4. Punctuation (Passage) -These are the punctuation marks found in the passage itself (dialogue will be covered separately). They will include the usual periods (.) or commas (,). Students must learn when and how to pause appropriately. E.g. Firstly, Adam Lo, the captain of the team and the fastest sprinter by far, had to go away because of a family problem and was not expected back before the competition. (2007 Day4) *In the above example, you are expected to make short pauses as indicated in the commas (red). You are expected to read the other parts (blue) WITHOUT pausing. However, if necessary you can pause before or after a conjunction. pause

4. Punctuation (Passage) cont ’ d … There might be other forms of punctuation like semi-colons (;) and dashes (-). Students must learn to take them into consideration and pause appropriately. E.g. When only one child arrived – and a baby at that – the organisers were a little taken aback. (2006 Day 9) NOTE: Identify the difference between dashes and hyphens. There is no need to pause for hyphens. E.g. “ You are doing pretty well for an 85-year-old, ” replied Sheila, who had reached the not-so-young age of 50 herself. (2006 Day 9). In this case, ignore the hyphens.

5. Punctuation (Dialogue) There will usually be dialogues in the reading passages. The dialogues would usually involve punctuation that involve pitch and tone. E.g. “ Think of all the pressure! I ’ m not sure I could stand the stress. ” “ Do you still regret not having followed our dream of cooking for a career? ” (GCE ‘ O ’ -Levels 2007 Paper 3 Day 10)

6. Contractions in Grammar -Contractions are words which have been shortened. Certain alphabets are replaced by an apostrophe ( ‘ ) -Contractions are used in speech and informal writing. Examples: I ’ d (I had or I would), We ’ ll (We will), They ’ re (They are), I ’ ve (I have), You ’ re (You are) Candidates have to learn how to pronounce these contractions as a single word and NOT as two separate words in their individual forms. E.g. “… I ’ m sure it must be worthless – I mean junk is worthless isn ’ t it? So I figured I ’ d just throw it away. It can ’ t bother you any more now, can it? ” was Michael ’ s frustrated reply. (2004 Day 3) Fun fact: Do you know that ten o ’ clock is actually a contraction of ten of the clock?

7. ‘ Th ’ sounds Candidates usually struggle with the ‘ th ’ sounds. For example, candidates will pronounce ‘ three ’ as ‘ tree ’ and ‘ think ’ as ‘ tink ’. -The ‘ th ’ sound can appear in the beginning, middle or end of a word. E.g. Theme, Brother, Month -Candidates aiming for distinctions should try to enunciate the ‘ th ’ sounds. Try to see if you can pronounce the following set of words Think, tink Three, tree Theme, team Thought, taught

Reading Aloud - Recap Pronounce well the ends of words –( ‘ es ’, ‘ s ’, ‘ d ’, ‘ t ’ and ‘ n ’ ) Pronounce words with proper stress – inFER, imPORtant, ORchestra, CHAracter, deTERmine –Do not be worried about not being able to pronounce some words well. However, you must make sure they do not affect the rest of your reading.

Reading Aloud - Recap Use pauses marked by commas, semicolons, colons and full-stops –Students should introduce differences in tone, to show variations in tone Use dramatic pauses suggested by words like “ pondered ”, “ hesitated ”, “ wondered ”

Reading Aloud - Recap Add pitch changes –It means loudness or softness of voice to emphasize mood and emotional substances to what is being read. –It makes the reading more interesting for the listener